Ed DeGenaro
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What people ever asked for a PRS Tele?Some people pined for years, "When is Paul/PRS gonna do a take on a Tele?"
Now people be like, "Why'd you do that?"
I think PRS are about to announce an abomination
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TSJMajesty
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You really think a company selling non-need items are price-gouging in this economy?
I do however, think companies raised their prices when energy spiked a few months back, beyond what was really necessary.
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Pretty much every guitar manufacturer has had excessive price hikes recently
mavrick102000
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I always liked the look of butterscotch with black pickguard Tele.
When I was at my local GC years ago, I actually ended buying a barely used whitewash with tortoise shell pickguard and purlfing for a steal used.
That guitar looked like it just arrived from the factory without even a micro-scratch on the pickguard. It felt and sounded perfect.
When I was at my local GC years ago, I actually ended buying a barely used whitewash with tortoise shell pickguard and purlfing for a steal used.
That guitar looked like it just arrived from the factory without even a micro-scratch on the pickguard. It felt and sounded perfect.
Jarick
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I don’t know their financials, but my guess is they are widening their prices across their lines to capture as much revenue as possible. Increasing the prices of the high end models drastically also increases the used prices substantially. PRS doesn’t make a dime off used guitars, but they make a ton of money off their SE and S2 models.
The SE line is likely where they are making most of their money now, and the Custom 24 SE in the last five years went up from $759 to $879, which is 15%, exactly the increase of inflation. That’s reasonable. And I bet they are moving way more SE models than core, especially as they roll out the DGT and Silver Sky models which were wildly popular.
The price increases were happening even prior to Covid. I bought my CE-24 in 2018 and at that time nobody liked the CE models because used core prices were sub-$2000. But even five years ago the price on core Customer 24 models had crept up from $2500 to $3000 and higher. So the used core models crept up over $2000.
I just checked and the price of a Custom 24 is now over $5000, which is basically double what they were a decade ago. That price increase is about triple the rate of inflation over that time frame. I just don’t see how that can be anything other than gouging. And yes, it’s a non-necessary good, but again I think they’d rather have you buy a $1000 DGT SE or a $2000 Custom 24 S2 (which was $1500 five years ago).
I’m a big fan of PRS guitars but the direction they are going is ridiculous.
Jarick
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Here’s a post made a little over two years ago complaining about prices increasing for a Custom 24 from ~$3000 to ~$4000:
https://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/price-increases-on-prs-custom-24.46793/
Sweetwater is now selling those same guitars for ~$5000.
PRS claiming the price increases are due to inflation is about as believable as Principal Skinner watching the northern lights in his kitchen.
https://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/price-increases-on-prs-custom-24.46793/
Sweetwater is now selling those same guitars for ~$5000.
PRS claiming the price increases are due to inflation is about as believable as Principal Skinner watching the northern lights in his kitchen.
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I'm thanking my lucky stars I was just able to pull a custom 22 for $1700
Jarick
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A couple years before I got my CE-24, when I was still shopping in the SE price range, I'd occasionally see some great looking DGT's for under $2k on Dave's Guitar site. By the time I was ready to spend about $1500, they were already up to $2500 used.
Best deal I saw was around that time, I think I saw a McCarty for about $1300 at a local shop, but it was pretty beat up. A couple big chips/gouges around the top, a lot of wear on the back of the body and neck, and frets needed replacement. Would have been a good project guitar for someone who knows how to refret and refin.
Anyways, never going to sell my CE-24. I've worn the frets down a fair amount and will get them redone with stainless jumbo and then should be set. Got my Ibanez AZ which is my high end HSS Strat and that has stainless frets as well.
Wouldn't mind moving a 1-2 of my ~ $1000 guitars for a higher end Tele style to complement them, but probably looking at a used Ibanez AZS in the $1400 range which is a great deal compared to the others. Ibanez by the way hasn't raised their MIJ AZ prices in five years, still $1999...
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To Paul's credit, I think he could have easily just done a nearly exact tele copy with his headstock, cutaway, and birds and called it good (without fear of lawsuit too I might add, so many companies have such close tele copies). They actually tried to do something somewhat original here, even if it's fugly
like @metropolis_4 has been saying, marketing it as a T type is probably a disservice
like @metropolis_4 has been saying, marketing it as a T type is probably a disservice
How does every PRS thread turn into a bunch of gear heads going into an economics diatribe? This statement will trigger at least one person to give me their credentials in economics…
They make fancy guitars in the US with excellent quality control, and they custom manufacture a lot of their components to achieve what they consider to be a superior product instead of ordering widely available ones. All that costs money, and people are willing to pay it. If you think it’s too expensive or don’t have the money, don’t buy it. They also make very affordable guitars and some stuff in between the two.
I’ve never been interested in expensive teles, and this one doesn’t change that. I’m interested to see how this goes. I never thought the silver sky would be accepted, boy was I wrong on that one lol. It got a pretty negative forum reception initially too. People found it to be a really great guitar though and that won the day in the end. This one has an uphill battle too, it better be great.
I already have a strat and tele I like, so no real interest from me.
D
They make fancy guitars in the US with excellent quality control, and they custom manufacture a lot of their components to achieve what they consider to be a superior product instead of ordering widely available ones. All that costs money, and people are willing to pay it. If you think it’s too expensive or don’t have the money, don’t buy it. They also make very affordable guitars and some stuff in between the two.
I’ve never been interested in expensive teles, and this one doesn’t change that. I’m interested to see how this goes. I never thought the silver sky would be accepted, boy was I wrong on that one lol. It got a pretty negative forum reception initially too. People found it to be a really great guitar though and that won the day in the end. This one has an uphill battle too, it better be great.
I already have a strat and tele I like, so no real interest from me.
D
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Baba
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Because:
Also, I complain that people don't know how to drive on the road, so, I could either:
1. Not drive
2. Drive, and complain
i.e., human nature . . .
You have to admit, PRS prices have increased, A LOT, and quickly, over the years.
Not the same guitar, nor company, no, but, a Charvel Pro Mod So Cal, for example, is still $899.00/$999.00/$1,049.00, everywhere. How much were they 5 years ago? Not much less, if anything less at all, IIRC.
Gibson Studios are $1,699.00 now, used to be $1,499.00, etc., but, a mild increase that took a few years, compared to what PRS is asking.
Didn't they all have to weather the same economic conditions as PRS? Haven't those economic conditions improved in the last year?
Unless PRS is shifting their customer base, and wanting the Core line to JUST be for the upper crust, and they want to push the regular folk to the SE/S2 lines?
Jarick
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You think it's bad in PRS threads, try a Gibson thread
See that I don't get.
I can't find clear prices, but I saw that Les Paul Standards were either $2500 or $2800 in 2016. Let's say they were $2500 in 2017. Today they are $3000. That's a 20% increase over six years. Inflation has gone up about 24% in that time frame. Gibson actually has raised prices LOWER than inflation.
You’re making my points for me…
I’m not going to get into the economics of it. What has happened to their pricing seems super obvious to me. If you can’t see it, me arguing on the internet is unlikely to change that lol.
They’re expensive guitars, they always have been. Those that want them, buy them. Those that don’t want them, can’t afford them, or don’t think they’re worth it don’t buy them.
There are plenty of guitars on the market that I think are overpriced. I just don’t buy them. Occasionally I complain about them on the internet too (looking at you Golf Foil Jazzmaster…).
D
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I can't remember which year but they got priced at $3k or over right before the ownership changed. I think that's the only time I've seen the price on something go down, especially by like $500. Obviously back in that neighborhood now but we're talking like 5 years ago
Not to mention Gibson is the only manufacturer offering a USA made electric guitar for less than $1k. Hell even the $1200 guitars they offer clock in cheaper than the lowest priced models of their USA competition.
And people seem to not bat an eye at companies like Jackson and Strandberg selling $2-4k guitars made in the Cort factory in Indonesia. Nothing against Indonesian guitars but we all know pricing them like that is insane
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